


routine

by thegirlwithmanynames



Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-15
Updated: 2017-05-15
Packaged: 2018-10-31 23:04:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 234
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10909302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegirlwithmanynames/pseuds/thegirlwithmanynames
Summary: all young boys have a nightly routine; Ciel Phantomhive is no exception.





	routine

the night terrors still wake him on occasion. 

it takes only a moment of shortness of breath, tightened fists in the sheets, heart thumping louder and more uncomfortably than Poe’s own telltale in his ears, and a panicked sweep of the area for him to realise that nothing is amiss. the room is quiet, as always; the curtains are drawn, though the faraway moonlight still filters in to bathe his surroundings in silver-blue; and he is alone, bolt upright in his too-large bed, hair matted to his forehead with sweat.

his laboured breaths, staggered heart, and slow catch-and-release of his fingers on the sheets are the few proofs he has that, in that moment, he is awake and living and not hallucinating a better life from the confines of a cage.

_of course_ , some part of him whispers, _you always **did**  have quite the imagination_.

there _is_  one other way for him to know that this is his true reality, however.

he needn’t touch it to _feel_  it. yet, he still raises a hand to his face and touches a gentle finger to the lid of his right eye, and keeps it there until his breaths slow to a forgivable rhythm.

no one is called to his bedside. he is not _weak_.

but when he settles himself to sleep until morning, his grip on his pillow is always tighter than it had been, before.


End file.
